Door-hanger.



No. 675,762. Patented June 4', I901. H. E. WALBADT.

DOOR HANGER.

(Application filed J'una B7, 1900.)

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARVEY E. WALRADT, oE CEDAR RAPIDS, IowA, ASSIGNOR on ONE-HALF TO PERCY w. SWETT, OF SAME PLACE.

DOOR-HANGER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 675,762, dated June 4, 1901.

Application filed June 27,1900. $eria1No. 21,815. (No model.)

To all whom zit may concern.-

Be it known that'I, HARvEY E. WALRADT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cedar Rapids, in the county of Linn and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Door- Track,of which the followingis aspecificationl My present invention relates to improvements in adjustable tracks for sliding doors, the object in view being to provide simple and readily accessible mechanism for adjusting or leveling a door-track to facilitate the initial equipment of the doorway and to compensate for the distortional effects upon the track of the settling of the building, the warp ing of the framing, or the sagging of the tracks under the weight of the doors. 7

To the accomplishment of this object the invention consists in suspending a sectional track from the door-frame by means of adjustable track-supporting devices constructed and related in a manner to facilitate the adjustment of the entire track or the relative adjustment of the track-sections by the turning of screw-bolts, the heads of which extend into the track-housing to permit of their being turned with a screw-driver or similar implelment passed into the housing between the m1 s.

The invention further consists in the details of construction and arrangement which will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and defined in the appended claims.

In said drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation showing a double doorway and a sectional track' adjustably supported by my improved track-supporting mechanism and serving as a support for a pair of sliding 'doors, and Fig. 2 is a transverse section taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the numerals of reference employed to designate corresponding parts in both views, 1 indicates a door-frame, the headbeam 2 of which serves as a support for the door-track, said track comprising a rectangular housing, the side walls 3 and at of which support at their lower edges the rails 5 and 6, between which are designed to move the doorhangers 7, engaging the shafts 8 of the tr'avelers 9, mounted to travel upon the rails.

In accordance with my invention the doortrack is composed of a number of hinged sections connected by hinges 10, located upon the top wall 11 of the housing, the pintle of said hinge being disposed horizontally to permit each track-section to be swung upwardly to permit either or both ends of the track to be elevated or depressed or to permit the elevation or depression of the center of the track to effect the adjustment or leveling thereof under the varying conditions which necessitate such rearrangement. The track is supported at its centerthat is to say, adjacent to the contiguous ends of the track-sections by what I will term the center bolts 12 and 13, passed through the wall 11 of each section adjacent to the hinge 10 and through the head beam 2, in the upper surface of which latter are sunk a pair of fixed nuts 14: and 15, with which the center bolts 12 and 13 engage and through which said bolts are screwed for the purpose of elevating or depressing the center of the track.

The outer ends of the track-sections are sustained by the end bolts 16 and 17, passed looselythrough the beam 2 and having their lower ends screwed into fixed nuts 18 and 19 in the top wall 11 of the track. Obviously these end bolts are located adjacent to the extreme inner ends of the door-pockets formed in the walls for the reception of the sliding doors 20 and 21 when the latter are pushed back to the positions shown in the drawings. This inaccessible position of the end bolts necessitates the employment of adjusting means therefor, which means will be readily accessible, so that the track may be adjusted at its center or at its ends, or both, without necessitating the removal of the doors or other part and without endangering the finish of the framing. I therefore connect the upper ends of the end bolts 16 and 17 with the outer ends of a pair of adjusting-levers 22 and 23, pivotally supported at a point intermediate of their ends by the-lever-supporting brackets 24 and 25, which for simplicity of construction may be slitted or bifurcated, as shown, to form seats for the levers, said levers being preferably formed from short lengths of strap metal set edgewise into the brackets and having their extremities twisted to form terminal ears 26 vided.

and 27 at their outer and inner ends, respectively. By the described connection between the levers and the brackets or supports the former maybe shifted at any point along the latter without the necessity for removing any pivot. A loose pivot connection is thus pro- The ears 26 are pierced by the end bolt 17, and the ears 27 at the inner ends of the levers 22 and 23 have a threaded engagement with the upper ends of adjusting-bolts 2S and 20, extending loosely through the top wall 11 of the track and through the headbeam 2 of the door-frame, the heads of the adjusting-bolts 28 being located, like the heads of the bolts 12 and 13, immediately below the wall 11 and slotted for engagement with a screw-drix'er or other implement designed to be employed for the rotation of the several bolts.

The track may be constructed in various ways; but, as illustrated, the side walls 3 and 4 of the housing are preferably struck from light sheet metal and are braced by metal straps 30, located at proper intervals.

The manner of manipulation of the track adjusting and leveling mechanism is as follows: The track having been mounted, as illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings, and properly leveled will permit the free sliding movement of the doors supported through the medium of the hangers 7 upon the travelers 9. In the course of time, however, the settling of the building will cause slight sagging of the head-beam 2 at its center, effecting more or less depression of the inner ends of the track-sections, the hinge 10 permitting of this relative movement to prevent the track from being permanently injured by such distortional influences. The disalinement of the track-sections under the conditions stated will materially interfere with the movement of the doors, as the rails 5 and 6 will be thrown out of parallel with the base of the door-frame against which the doors will bind. Under such conditions the track will be quickly leveled by passing a screw-driver or other implement between the rails and into engagement with the heads of the center adjusting-bolts 12 and 13,which will be screwed through the nuts 14 and 15 until the inner ends of the track-sections have been sufliciently elevated to properly aline the rails. In some instances the various distortional influences mentioned may effect the sagging of the ends of the track or of one end,

and in this event the adjusting-bolts 28 and 29 are rotated in the manner indicated for the purpose of depressing the connected ends of the levers 22 and 23, which will obviously effeet the elevation of their opposite ends to lift the ends of the track through the medium of the end bolts 16 and 17, and the engagement of the heads of the bolts 28 and 29 with the under surface of the top wall 11 of the track will serve to support the latter at points intermediate of the center and end bolts.

From the foregoing it will be observed that I have produced simple, durable, and eihcient means for effecting the leveling and adjustment of a door-track without necessitating the removal of the doors or the employment of skilled labor and without endangering the finish of the polished surfaces; but while the present embodiment of my invention appears at this time to be preferable I do not desire to limit myself to the structural details defined, as it is evident that many structural modifications might be effected Without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is' 1. The combination with a support, of a door-track and lever disposed at opposite sides of the support, and a pair of reversely-disposed headed and threaded bolts passed laterally through the lever and suspending the track from the opposite ends of the latter, one of said bolts having threaded connection with the lever only and having its head accessible Within the track and the other of said bolts having threaded connection with the track only, and having its head bearing against the lever.

2. The combination with a support, of a lever-supporting bracket carried by the support and slitted or bifurcated, a lever loosely set edgewise within the slit or bifurcation of the bracket and having its ends twisted to form horizontal ears, straight bolts secured at their upper ends to the ears of the lever and passed loosely through the support, and a door-track carried at the lower ends of the bolts.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as myown I have hereto affixed my signatu rein the presence of two witnesses.

HARVEY E. \VALRADT.

\Vitnesses:

J. J. SNOUFFER, SVII. SMITH. 

